Millions of trees are set to be planted across the Wheatbelt in Australia’s biggest deal to tackle climate change by “locking up” carbon in plants.
  
The contract, between Perth company Carbon Conscious and energy firm Origin, will be worth up to $169 million over 15 years.
  
It will see hundreds of Wheatbelt famers selling “carbon rights” to portions of their land. Carbon Conscious will then plant native mallee eucalypts on the property to lock up carbon for at least a century.
  
The practice is likely to become a significant mechanism for generating carbon credits for use in the Federal emissions trading scheme after the carbon pollution reduction scheme legislation is approved in Parliament.
  
Carbon Conscious chief executive Peter Balsarini said farmers would be invited to turn over 10 to 20 per cent of their land, in return for a leasing fee negotiated on the basis of the land’s agricultural value. Much of the land would be of marginal quality for growing crops, meaning that many farmers would be tempted to invest in the scheme as a means of extracting some guaranteed value from the land.
  
The contract with Origin will see $26 million of tree-planting over the next three years, with an option for plantations worth a further $143 million by 2014.
  
The value of the carbon credits generated by the scheme will not be known until the emissions trading scheme is up and running.
  
But Mr Balsarini said carbon offsetting mechanisms such as these would be a key tool for energy companies even if the CPRS was delayed or even rejected by Parliament.